SPENDING SHOWDOWN: PART 7,563,243 – Tell us if you’ve heard this one before: The Republican Study Committee’s up in arms about the deal leadership cut with the White House for a $1.043 top line (or bottom line) for fiscal 2012 appropriations, and there’s rumbling about opposing an upcoming continuing resolution to fund the government beyond Nov. 18.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor presented the leadership’s view of the situation to a restive RSC yesterday, and a source close to the process predicts that the RSC will have limited power in the end. “I’ve got the impression we’ve got the votes with or without them,” the source said.

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That might mean that Republicans will rely on some votes from House Democrats, which, in turn, might explain why House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer’s been talking about the 182 Democrats who have urged Republican leaders to keep spending bills free of controversial policy riders.

So … The choice is this for the RSC: If they want policy riders, they may have to vote for the CR. If they don’t want to vote for the CR, they may lose out on desired policies.

If House and Senate negotiators can come to an agreement quickly on the three bills just included in the Senate minibus, a CR could be included in that deal. And House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers urged prospective conferees to expedite action during a private meeting in his office yesterday, according to one source.

House conferees will be appointed today.

SOLYNDRA SUBPOENA: IT’S COMING TODAY – It’s a good thing Morning Energy is a POLITICO product. Otherwise, someone might accuse Huddle of stealing all this great reporting. Here’s Patrick Reis’ aggregation on a subpoena the House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to issue for internal White House documents during a 9 a.m. meeting in the Rayburn building.

“The GOP is going forward with the move even after the Obama administration delivered an additional 15,000 pages of documents to the committee Wednesday evening as high-level White House officials — including counsel Kathryn Ruemmler — tried to strike a compromise. … [I]n the end, the Republicans would not be denied: “Unfortunately, despite these repeated efforts to negotiate document production without the need for a subpoena, the White House failed to produce internal White House documents related to Solyndra or answer basic questions about the documents,” the GOP said through a committee statement. Samuelsohn has the story for Pros: http://politico.pro/sQFzMe. …

Those 15,000 pages revealed that Solyndra's top executive strategized with the Obama administration last October as he tried to contain the fallout from the company’s plan to shutter a plant and lay off nearly 200 employees. Samuelsohn has more: http://politico.pro/rTicKl. …

And also that an aide to Vice President Joe Biden sought information about Solyndra’s private investors one day after the Energy Department made the solar company’s loan guarantee more favorable to the financers. Samuelsohn again: http://politico.pro/thVOde.”

WHITE HOUSE SUPERCOM STRATEGY: STAY AWAY – Fast Break and Carrie Budoff Brown report on the hands-off approach the president has taken with the supercommittee, and his desire to remain focused on his jobs message. “The White House receives updates primarily through its legislative affairs director, Rob Nabors, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Top aides to Obama, like Nabors and chief of staff Bill Daley, speak to Boehner chief of staff Barry Jackson. Budget Director Jack Lew weighs in with technical assistance,” they write. “The missing link, so far, is Obama himself — and Hill Democrats, for perhaps the first time in his presidency, aren’t complaining about his absence. ‘I don’t detect any involvement at all,’ said Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), a member of the deficit panel. ‘The 12 members on this committee are pretty independent people. … They know that what we’re doing is legislative business, and although I suspect they will listen to the White House’s involvement, they wouldn’t be swayed by it at all.’” http://politi.co/u5dwg5

-- Roll Call’s Steve Dennis and Meredith Shiner take the same tack: “Several aides said the White House believes the super committee is likely to fail to produce a package that shaves at least $1.2 trillion from the deficit. Therefore, it may not be worth their time and could tarnish the president because the GOP would try to pin any failure on him, these aides said,” they write. “Even if the panel does get a deal, Obama will want to distance himself from some of the painful choices that are made — arguing that he would have done it differently, even if he ultimately ends up signing the super committee’s package.” http://bit.ly/vFKoAI

-- HUDDLE TAKE – It’s any president’s luxury to take credit for legislative success by signing a bill or to distance himself from failure by keeping his hands clean. Why wouldn’t Obama take advantage of that construct? The exception: When Congress is considering one of his legislative priorities. But that’s not the case here.

WHEN IT CAINS IT POURS: THE SCANDAL SPIRALS – “Herman Cain lashed out at rival Rick Perry on Wednesday, accusing the Texas governor’s campaign of orchestrating the original report about allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior. In separate appearances Wednesday evening, both Cain and his campaign manager, Mark Block, asserted that the Perry campaign was behind POLITICO’s report Sunday that, as head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, at least two female employees complained about inappropriate behavior by Cain and ultimately signed confidential agreements that gave them financial payouts to leave the association,” Maggie Haberman and Juana Summers report for the hometown paper. “’We’ve been able to trace it back to the Perry campaign that stirred this up in order to discredit me,” Cain said at a tele-town hall held by TheTeaParty.net. ‘The fingerprints of the Rick Perry campaign are all over this, based on our sources.’” http://politi.co/vGXVLw -- Meanwhile, AP’S Jack Gillum and Stephen Ohlemacher report that “GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain faces accusations from a third woman, who considered filing a complaint against him over sexually suggestive remarks and gestures.” http://apne.ws/tbbmDe

GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, and welcome to The Huddle, where we can’t wait for the Rick Perry, Jon Stewart beer summit, TMZ tells us that Pete Rose is being sued by his dentist for nonpayment, Twitter’s Adam Sharp is making us jealous with his Tweets from London, it’s been 98 years since the federal income tax went into effect, and Dewey Evans is wished a very happy 60th birthday.

Please send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints, corrections, sealed records of any kind and sports scores (like 6, the jersey number Steve Garvey wore for the Dodgers – he is now among those seeking to buy the team, according to ESPN) to jallen@politico.com. If you don’t already, please follow me on Twitter @jonallendc. Fast Break is @JakeSherman, and Robillard is @PoliticoKevin. New followers include, but are not limited to, @TaraDiJulio and @conblog. TODAY IN CONGRESS -- The Senate: From Majority Leader Harry Reid’s Website –

“ Convenes: 10:00am

* Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S.1769, the Rebuild America Jobs Act. The Republican Leader or his designee will be recognized to make a motion to proceed to S.1786, the Long-Term Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2011 (Hatch).

* The motions to proceed to S.1769 and S.1786 will be debated concurrently with the time until 3:00pm equally divided and controlled between the two Leaders or their designees.

* At 3:00pm, the Senate will conduct up to 2 roll call votes. The first vote will be on the motion to proceed to S.1769 with a 60-vote threshold. If that is unsuccessful, the Senate will proceed to a 2nd vote on the motion to proceed to S.1786 with a 60-vote threshold.

* We also expect to vote on a couple of judicial nominations during Thursday’s session.”

The House is in at 10 a.m., with legislative business beginning at noon and last votes expected no later than 7 p.m. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy’s “Access to Capital for Job Creation” bill is on the floor, with an amendment from Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) also on tap for consideration. The Miller amendment would force disclosure of bonuses and golden parachutes in ads connected to exempted offerings. Rep. Patrick McHenry’s “crowdfunding” bill – written about previously in Huddle – could also come up today. It bears an endorsement from the White House, which put out a Statement of Administration to that effect yesterday.

MOBILE BOEHNER: SPEAKER TO START LIVESTREAMING TO YOUR HANDHELD – Speaker John Boehner’s office is expanding its tech reach by streaming his press conferences and other public events live. You can watch on your mobile device. First up: Today’s 11:15 a.m. press conference. The Boehner blog write-up: http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?postid=267345

WORKING ETHICS: RICHARDSON TRIES TO AVOID INVESTIGATION – “Rep. Laura Richardson is lobbying members of the House Ethics Committee in a last-ditch bid to avoid a formal investigation into allegations that she pressured her staff to engage in banned political activities while on her congressional payroll,” John Bresnahan reports for the publication formerly known as THE POLITICO. “The California Democrat sent a private letter to all 10 members of the secretive panel Tuesday, stating that she would agree to a minor sanction such as a public reprimand over the alleged violations. But Richardson urged her House colleagues not to move forward with a full investigation. Such a probe would drag on well into 2012 and could be a serious blow to her already troubled reelection efforts. A closed-door vote on the Richardson case by the Ethics Committee could come as soon as Thursday, sources said. … In an interview, Richardson said she sent the highly unusual letter to Ethics Committee members because she ‘wanted to make sure that, One: People understood from our perspective what occurred; No. 2: that they understood, from our perspective, what options should be considered on the table.’” http://politi.co/rLDwnq

FIRST LOOK: REGULATORY REFORM REFORM – The Chamber of Commerce is backing a bill, HR 3010, which would rewrite the law governing how agencies write regulations. The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to mark up the bill today. “Agencies finalize rules without adequate notice or supporting data, as well as cherry-picking the data that supports their proposal and ignoring the cumulative and indirect impacts to businesses throughout the economy. The 65-year old APA needs an overhaul to conform it to the current state of regulatory activity – hundreds of agencies issuing thousands of rules every year. Modernizing the law is just good government,” Bill Kovacs, senior vice president for the Environment, Technology & Regulatory Affairs, writes on the Chamber’s blog. http://bit.ly/w0ZQEL

MATH BRAWL: ‘FIGHT THE ZERO’ – A corps of Americorps supporters is rallying at “strategic locations” on Capitol Hill to push for spending for the program. At a Rayburn meeting, Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Doris Matsui are scheduled to address the group. Why are they upset? Here’s what the release says: “The Chairman of the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services Subcommittee recently released a budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2012 that would shut down the Corporation for National and Community Service, eliminating funding for AmeriCorps, the Social Innovation Fund, and Learn & Serve America. This rally is taking place to Fight the Zero for these programs and make the case that now more than ever our nation should be investing in these service programs that create jobs and provide vital services for communities across the country.”

BERNANKE: CAN WE GET SOME HELP HERE? -- “The Federal Reserve significantly reduced its forecast of economic growth through 2013, acknowledging that it had once again overestimated the nation’s recovery from the 2008 financial crisis,” Binyamin Applebaum reports for the New York Times. “Despite the bleak forecast, however, the Fed said that its policy-making committee had decided against taking new measures to stimulate growth at a two-day meeting that concluded Wednesday. The Fed’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, said that the central bank already was pushing hard to spur growth and create jobs.” So what does Bernanke think should be done to help the economy? “He added that Congress, by contrast, was not doing enough to pull the levers of fiscal policy. Lawmakers are gridlocked over a new jobs proposal from the White House, and a special bipartisan committee charged with reducing the deficit is struggling to reach agreement by Thanksgiving. ‘I think it would be helpful if we could get assistance from other parts of the government to help create more jobs,’ Mr. Bernanke said.”

ELECTION YEAR FORECAST -- The Fed now predicts the economy will grow between 2.5 and 2.9 percent in 2012, and that unemployment will be at 8.5 percent at the end of that year.

ON BENATOR’S TIME: NELSON WON’T ANNOUNCE UNTIL YULE TIME -- The Lincoln Journal-Star’s Don Walton reports the Nebraska Democrat will decide whether or not to run for re-election sometime around Christmas: “Nelson said he will weigh his family's views along with a personal judgment on "whether I believe I have a role to play in dealing with a very divided Congress in a very divided country, whether I could be constructive in finding some solutions, whether I am convinced I can be a positive force for the following six years." Nelson has his campaign leadership in place, has blanketed the state with a series of TV ads paid for by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, has raised campaign funds and banked more than $3 million for a re-election bid, but he still has not yet left the starting gate, pushed the go button, pulled the trigger. ‘I'm not trying to drag this out,’ the two-term Democratic senator said. ‘There is no theater involved in this.’”

--One potential deciding factor: money. “One of the considerations he always raises in discussions with his family about his political future is the issue of ‘leaving a bigger estate or legacy,’ Nelson said. Nelson, 70, presumably would have some major opportunities to increase his wealth in the private sector if he decided to leave the Senate at the end of his current term.” http://bit.ly/rYpOeP YOU SCRATCH MY BACK … -- “One-time U.S. Senate candidate and Senate President Mike Haridopolos is backing long-time friend U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV in the GOP primary,,” Dara Kam writes for the Palm Beach Post. Mack had backed Haridopolos’ now-aborted bid for Senate. http://bit.ly/s55l9z

THE ANGRIEST CD IN AMERICA? -- Reporting from the wonderfully named Gnaw Bone, Indiana, David A. Fahrenthold profiles the state’s ninth district: “Among 435 congressional districts, this is the only one that has flipped three times since 2000. … But people here have wave fatigue. How many times can you be persuaded to throw the bums out before you decide that they’re all bums, every one? ‘We’ve been trying to find somebody to do things differently. And we can’t find him,’ said Donna Klippert, 65, a retired ‘lady truck driver’ who has tried both Democrats and Republicans in past elections. … From 1964 to 1996, there were 17 House elections in this district. Lee Hamilton, a centrist Democrat, won every one. … In 2004, as President George W. Bush won reelection, a Republican unseated Hamilton’s successor, Rep. Baron P. Hill (D). Then, in 2006, Hill took the seat back, as Democrats used a backlash against Bush to retake Congress. Then, during the tea party wave last fall, the 9th District kicked out Hill once again. Voters replaced him with a square-jawed ex-Marine, Rep. Todd C. Young (R). … Jonathan D. George, a retired Air Force general who is running against Young, looked out from the cliff over the remains of a limestone quarry: broken rocks, scrubby weeds, a large gray-sided pit filled with rainwater. … George, 54, is a former U-2 spy plane pilot and a member of President Obama’s national security team. He says Young is out of step with this region: unwilling to invest in roads, bridges and other infrastructure. George wants to use that kind of investment to create jobs in education and defense.” http://wapo.st/uAMruQ

YESTERDAY’S TRIVIA – Lamar Alexander didn’t win any states when he ran for the Republican presidential nomination. Congratulations to Marda Robillard (no relation to Kevin) for sending in the first correct answer.

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Who preceded Lee Hamilton in the House?

THE WEATHER – “Today starts off cold, but features ample sun to push the mercury into the lower 60s,” Brian van de Graaff reports for ABC-7.

** A message from the Stop The HIT Coalition: The Health Insurance Tax (HIT) drives up health care costs for small businesses, seniors, state Medicaid programs and middle-income Americans. The HIT is estimated to cost hardworking American families an additional $5,000 over a decade. And since the cost and consequences of the HIT increase over time, America’s small businesses and hardworking families are facing a bigger HIT every year. This translates to real jobs for businesses and real wages for families. That’s why the Stop The HIT Coalition – representing the nation’s small business owners and their employees – is working hard to repeal the HIT before it causes even more damage. Congress, please stop the HIT. Once and for all. http://bit.ly/1iE6tfW **

Authors:

About The Author

Jonathan Allen is POLITICO’s senior Washington correspondent and focuses his reporting on the nexus of politics and policy. He is a winner of the National Press Foundation’s Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress and the National Press Club’s Sandy Hume Award for Excellence in Political Journalism. A graduate of the University of Maryland, Jonathan was born in Silver Spring, Md., and lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and son. He frequently speaks to groups about politics and journalism, taught a course at Northwestern University in 2012, and appears as a guest analyst on national television and local radio programs.